Choosing her path
by ChattyLampshade
Summary: A 50 sentences fic about Fran's life before the events of the game.


**Disclaimer: I do not own the Final Fantasy series or its characters.**

**Fran was my favorite character from this game. I wanted to explore more of her interesting past, and I also wanted to write a 50 sentences fic, so this is the result!**

**Edit: I resubmitted this after noticing and correcting a few inexcuseable errors**

* * *

**1. Sprout**

The mother of a Viera isn't the one who gives birth to her – the wood, and the wood alone, is.

**2. ****Unnecessary**

Names are of no importance among the Viera, so when the elder gives the name Fran to her second daughter, she hasn't put much of her mind into choosing it.

**3. Sister**

Jote is the one who hears her first words, the one who watches her first steps, and the one who takes the responsibility for everything right from the start.

**4. Affinity**

The young Fran watches an insect crawl across the leaf; it's the first time she sees a living creature that is not a Viera, and her childish mind is fascinated.

**5. Aging**

While the centuries pass and the world of Ivalice is changing, the woods, the Viera, and Fran herself just become a few years older, like if they are living in their own reality.

**6. ****Role model**

Fran has gotten a number one fan in the form of Mjrn, who constantly follows her around: "Sister, look at that!"

**7. Ignorance**

She can't help but think if it's simply because their other sister never seems to have time for their little sister, and that's the first time she wonders if duties really are all that important.

**8. Training**

"Aim well, Fran… a little higher… there you go."

**9. ****Longing**

In Golmore Jungle, the skies always seems so far away, as they're covered by the high trees, and Fran often finds herself gazing into the small pieces of it that can be seen.

**10. Loss**

"The Elder is dead!" are the words that state the destiny of the three sisters.

**11. ****Sorrow**

They stand alone now, trying to comfort the crying Mjrn, but it doesn't matter how many times they tell her that it's going to be all right, they all know the truth.

**12. Ideals**

Jote is starting to act like the perfect leader, even though she is a bit young for a Viera elder, always walking with her head held high, always keeping the duties close to her heart, the Green Word is her law, her heart is no longer of any importance.

**13. Belief**

_And maybe that is the best way_, Fran thinks.

**14. ****Settled**

"And you, Sister…" Jote says, "you have shown remarkable skill with the bow. Would you consider asking the woods if the path of a warrior is the right one for you?"

**15. Doubt**

Fran can't help but wonder why she should listen to the Green Word instead of listening to her own desire, but then she scolds herself for even wondering such things – such is not the ways of a Viera.

**16. Apprentice**

The bows, the swords, the axes and many other kinds of weapons pass through her hands, and she handles them all perfectly, and her master even seems proud of her.

**17. Unreachable**

And then she finds herself staring into the sky again.

**20. Isolation **

Another century has passed for Ivalice, and a new age has come, and new cities have been funded, new people have been born, and Fran have now reached her adulthood, and all of her insecurity is starting to transform into determination.

**21. Decision**

Because _why _should she always live her life through the Green Word, and _why_ can't she take her destiny in her own hands, and _what _can she find in that sky, and _why_ is Jote looking at her that way?

**22. ****Twist**

Seven words, a determined look and two shocked sisters are enough to turn her life upside down.

**23. Reason**

Because, as she says, "the Viera may begin as part of the wood, but it is not the only end we may choose."

**24. Leave**

She counts her steps as she walks out of her home – seven, eight, nine… - because she knows that this is the last seconds she will spend here.

**25. Arrival**

And so, she finally breathes the air of Ivalice, and now, she can finally see the sky clearly, and it astonishes her.

**26. New**

Everything she sees – the deserts, the seas, and that sky, _that sky_… - is like a wonder to her, and she can't believe that she have lived all her life completely unaware of all this.

**27. ****Alone**

But after a while, the faces of her sisters are starting to haunt her… lingering feelings of regrets starts to consume her… and she realizes that she will never see them again… _what have I done_?

**28. Time**

A decade passes, and Fran is puzzled by how quickly things happen here – she has yet to discover the short lifespan of the Humes.

**29. Traveler**

She wants to see as much as she can of this world, so she decides to start on a journey all around Dalmasca – she understands that if she is going to spend the rest of her life in this world, she needs to know what kind of world it is.

**30. ****Recognize**

Once in a while she sees a Viera who have also abandoned the wood, but she rarely speaks to them, because she doesn't want to remind herself about her dreadful action.

**31. ****Bitter**

Time passes, and as Fran learns more and more, she also becomes more and more used to her loneliness – she now knows that such is the fate of a Viera who chooses another path.

**32. Meeting**

An airship, a thief, a valuable artifact, some guards, and in the next second she finds herself onboard the airship in a seat next to the thief, and when she asks him about who he is, his answer is "I'm the leading man, who else?".

**33. Partner**

The thief's name is Balthier, and after some talking, they've made an agreement.

**34. Change**

She finds it funny, but it's too late to go back now – the life of a sky pirate is ahead of her.

**35. Mystery**

They both have secrets for each other, they have both left their homes and identities for the sky they both find irresistible – they don't know it, but they are more similar than it seems.

**36. Adventure**

"Close one, wasn't it, Fran?"

**37. Rescue**

She aims, she shoots – a dead soldier, and a saved partner.

**38. Joy**

She feels newborn, like if all the years before she became a sky pirate were just training, because this freedom, _this freedom_…

**39. Friend**

Somehow, she has formed a bond with this partner of hers, a bond of words, actions, trust and, for the first time in her life, friendship.

**40. Wings**

And somehow, she is no longer a sprout, forever bound to the earth, but a bird, flying high in the sky.

**41. Question**

"So, Fran, where should we head next?"

**42. Answer**

"Anywhere."

**43. Roles**

Sometimes she's the bodyguard, fighting away hordes of enemies while Balthier tries to reach the treasure in question, sometimes she's the brain, making the plans, sometimes she stays by his side.

**44. Foreign**

There are times when she prefers to stay in the shadows – there are still some ways of the Humes she cannot understand.

**45. Airship**

"We are ready to fly."

**46. Wanted**

They have their first encounter with Ba'Gamman, and it is not until now she fully realizes the dangers of her choices, but it doesn't matter.

**47. ****Needed**

They are equals, and they treat each other as such, because they know that they are parts of each other, just as much as the clouds are a part of the sky.

**48. Lost**

Sometimes she wonders if they miss her, if they remember her, and if they are doing well.

**49. Found**

She knows what she's supposed to be, but she has chosen another path.

**50. Home**

Whatever she does, she knows that she finally has a place to belong.


End file.
